In a recent sentencing in the District of Columbia, two men, one from Mexico and the other from El Salvador, received their respective punishments for a drug trafficking conspiracy. Erik Rivera Garcia, a 29-year-old Mexican national, and Vladimir Roque Ceron, a 33-year-old El Salvadoran, were involved in the distribution of significant quantities of cocaine and fentanyl to the streets of Washington, D.C., according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The sentence handed down by U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates on Wednesday to Rivera Garcia included 62 months in prison and four years of followed supervised release. Rivera Garcia entered a guilty plea on March 13, to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
Roque Ceron received a sentence of 14 months in prison and three years of supervised release, which is substantively less compared to his co-defendant. His guilty plea on March 5, included a charge of distributing a mixture containing fentanyl and cocaine. During his time within the conspiracy, Roque Ceron engaged in the direct sale of nearly 200 grams of cocaine and over a hundred fentanyl-laced pills, all confirmed by DEA laboratory analysis to contain the substances charged.
Court documents highlighted Rivera Garcia's marked role as "protection" for the drug trafficking operations. Having been caught providing armed security during drug sales, agents recovered a loaded .38 caliber revolver alongside a sizable haul of 3.6 kilograms of cocaine from his immediate vicinity when the arrest occurred. Roque Ceron's actions, meanwhile, had him dealing directly with confidential sources over several months, according to documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The investigation fell under the broader umbrella of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF), a joint operation tackling high-level trafficking and organized crime. In a unified front, the FBI's DC Safe Streets Task Force, the DEA's Washington Field Division, the Department Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and local Metropolitan Police Departments allied to bring this drug network down. Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy J. Coley and Ernesto J. Alvarado were credited with the prosecution of the case.
Notably, at the time of their offenses, both Rivera Garcia and Roque Ceron were stated to have been unlawfully present in the United States. Both men will now face the consequences of their actions, serving time before commencing their supervised release periods.
